Food to turn into fat

KristaMac88

This may be a dumb question, im no pro at this yet, but how long does it take to see the true effects of negative eating on the scale? for food to turn to fat. Aka if i ate not the greatest over the weekend due to family events (alcohol,eggnog, sweets), would the scale this morning reflect that? Or does it take a few days for that to..turn into fat..and up my weight? The scale this a.m actually showed me having lost weight..and im back on track now but scared come say wed it will take a major jump and just want to know if i shouldnt be so fazzed by it knowing that it was from the weekend, or if its from something else I am doing wrong through the week.

SVZee

You'll most likely see an uptick on the scale the next day due to increased sodium and digestion still happening. It will mostly disappear within a day or two.

Chef_Barbell

From what I understand, it takes 3500 calories over your maintenance calories to gain 1lb. Weight fluctuates all the time and I wouldn't worry about it.

kami3006

It takes being over your maintenance calories consistently to see the effects on the scale. A high calorie weekend may not have any effect at all depending on how you did the rest of the week. It may have wiped out some of or all of your deficit but you could still be right at or under maintenance overall. For you to gain, you would need to be over your maintenance for the week and a full 3500 calories over that to gain a pound. And, sometimes the scale keeps going down despite weekends like this. It's happened to me a couple times.

I wouldn't worry about it. If there is any effect, it will probably be lost in the everyday fluctuations we all have.

KristaMac88

Perfect! lol I do go over my calories quite a few days (not from eating junk food or soda though), usually by around 100 cals. But weekends we normally sleep in and dont eat until around noon anyways (as appose to week days when im up between 5&6am) and if i know im going to be indulging that night will try and eat good if at all before then. So hopefully thats enough to even just keep me even and not go up at all over these holiday get togethers and will continue to go down after that!

cmriverside

The holidays are difficult for almost everyone.

I think - don't get into the mindset that "the next day" will mean anything at all. Weight is more about consistency over a long period of time. One or two days of eating too much is pretty meaningless. Log it and move on.

I don't really worry too much over the holidays, that's what January 1 is for.

KristaMac88

aha very true! Like i told someone else, starting this journey in dec is a dangerous mission, but, not impossible and if anything, count cals through it all, be mindful of what you are eating, and use it as a practice month to get in the habbit of cal counting then you will be ready to jump in full force come jan first aha okay..second..something tells me jan first involves hangover food for most Lol

LivingtheLeanDream

If I eat different to my usual and that food is higher carb/sodium/sugar then I can see a spike the next day of up to 3lbs, by day 4 its gone. As long as normal eating resumes for me there is no real gain.

T1DCarnivoreRunner

Your body is constantly moving things around for use or otherwise. Weight fluctuates for reasons unrelated to fat growth/loss or lean tissue growth/loss as well. Most notably, water weight causes fluctuations from day to day and hour to hour.

It is not possible to get meaningful information from your scale from a single day to the next. The scale should be used for trends over weeks/months.

ETA: For the short term, trust the process and log everything as accurately as possible. For the medium term (2-3 months), review trends in the scale and adjust based on the input/output logged and observed trends. From day to day, just log / track as accurately as possible.

KristaMac88

I do only log my end of week weight. I guess I just like to see the scale to know how what I chose to eat the day before effects me, espeically if im feeling flatter or more bloated and if it did spike my weight, even if it is just temporary water weight, to try and avoid a particular food from now on.

sardelsa

As someone who gains weight on purpose, it takes a consistent period in a surplus to actually see fat storage gain. After a high weekend you might see the scale jump, usually it is food, water, etc. I eat way more on weekends and still lose weight over time, a few days over maintenance still won't do it.